Hurricane Isaias touched millions of lives as it wound up the East Coast last week, but for Dyker Heights resident Reyes Martinez, Isaias’ touch was more of a smack.
Martinez awoke to the sound of a “crack” last week, only to find a downed tree had crashed through the window of his 12th Avenue home. He wasn’t alone – just in Dyker Heights, over 200 trees were overturned, and hundreds (if not thousands) of residents were left without power. For Brooklyn homeowners and politicians alike, it’s just the latest sign of City Hall’s neglect for the outer boroughs.
That feeling is what brought Borough President Eric Adams, City Councilmember Justin Brannan [D-Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach) and State Sen. Andrew Gounardes (D-Dyker Heights, Bay Ridge, Bath Beach, Gerritsen Beach, Marine Park) to Dyker Heights yesterday. Standing by both Martinez and the downed tree that wrecked his property, the trio of pols took ConEd and Mayor de Blasio to task.
“We’re tired of the outer boroughs being the forgotten boroughs,” Brannan said. “The reason why people are still without power today is because trees like this were ignored.”
The fallen tree has not yet been removed – and, as of that afternoon, was still crushing a parked car.
“This slow outer-borough response is reflective of how many of our agencies see what happens in our outer boroughs as what happened in our business center, but it is just as important,” Adams told the crowd. “Falling trees, heavy winds – they cause damage to the exposed power lines that you’re seeing here.”
Brooklyn’s above-ground power lines have long been a point of contention for residents. Local electeds have tried to get Con Edison to disaster-proof the power infrastructure by moving these wires underground with little success.
“We’ve asked ConEd a million times, ‘what would it cost?’” Brannan said, “and they tell us, these aren’t the droids you’re looking for, it’s too expensive, don’t even ask.”
ConEd’s ballpark figure for the cost of renovations is in the millions per square mile. Adams says that this is still cheaper than the cost of repairs over the coming decades.
“How many times do we have to go through these storms before we realize that storms are going to continue to come, and they are going to continue to get increasingly destructive?” Adams asked. “What we need to really focus on is that the storms are coming earlier. Normally the ninth such storm doesn’t appear until October.”
The other sentiment at Tuesday’s press conference? To misquote Public Enemy: 3-1-1 is a joke.
“311 is supposed to be a tool that the neighbors can reach out to and get something done,” Brannan said. “Because of decades of underfunding the Parks Department, workers don’t have the resources they need to answer these calls.”
He estimates that at least half of the trees downed by Isaias had been reported to 311 in the months before the storm, but that the agency has prioritized Manhattan.
Gounardes seemed particularly anguished by government inaction, accusing de Blasio of neglecting his district.
“Where’s the mayor? How come the mayor hasn’t gone to every single neighborhood, to see firsthand the damage that’s been done?” Gounardes asked. “The mayor needs to be out here seeing this firsthand for himself – not speaking about it behind a desk in City Hall.”
